Category Archives: Latest News

GDPR (or the General Data Protection Regulation, to use its full title) is everywhere you look at the moment. And understandably so. It’s a big change. But is it as scary as everyone keeps saying? I get it. On the surface, marketing & GDPR don’t seem obvious BFFs. When I started to do my research on the topic, I was crapping myself just like everyone else.

How would it affect my marketing?

Would my email subscriber numbers fall off a cliff?

What about my ad strategy – would anyone actually opt in to my opt ins anymore?

So. You need to send a cold email pitch. Let me guess. Your toes are curling even at the thought. I know the deal. You spend forever and five days coming up with the email; refining, reviewing, restarting, ripping it all up and resolving to move to an ashram in the Himalayas where you won’t ever have to pitch again. But then you remember you have me to help. So here goes, a guide to how to write a cold email pitch without losing hair, sleep or sanity. Read More

If you want the short version: because it allows you to communicate consistently with your audience, with messages relevant to your brand and your goals. Added benefit of a brand style guide: it makes life easier for everyone who has to write, design and generally create brand content.

But, in the hope that you want to stick around for the long(er) story, keep reading, and you’ll see why writing, localizing and applying a brand style guide is a very good idea.Read More

We all like things that keep us organised and on track. I’m no exception. I love being organised. I track time, I track invoices, I have spreadsheets for suppliers, I have a CRM system to keep up-to-date with clients, I carefully retain all receipts, I run reports. In a nutshell, I am a complete, Class A, organisation geek. Read More

One of the things I am asked most often by would-be freelance writers and content creators – after how often I get dressed on a day-to-day basis – is how to pitch.

People tend to want a clear-cut answer. Pitching is a daunting process, especially when you’re sending your ideas out into unfamiliar inboxes, and it’s easy to imagine that everybody else is following the same rules of etiquette while you crash in, getting it all wrong. “What if the editor laughs at me?”, you think.

“What if I’m so wildly off the mark that they put my email in a special folder marked ‘WARNING: DO NOT COMMISSION’?”

(Well, for tomorrow.) This year I celebrated by taking part in a panel discussion titled “What’s my USP?” on Proz.com/TV. It was hosted by the amazing Tess Whitty (you can check out Tess’s guest blog for Silver Tongue on defining your USP here) and I shared the panel with two rockstars of the translation and interpreting world, Nicole König and Dr. Jonathan Downie. We talked USPs, shared experiences, and gave some tips on what to think about when you’re defining yours (the recordings are still available for Proz.com users for another few days, if you’d like to check them out.) Read More